Lawyers for Jérôme Kerviel, the trader accused of fake transactions costing Société Générale billions of euros, yesterday dismissed as irrelevant a series of electronic messages between the trader and his broker, which suggested complicity between the two men.

Moussa Bakir, a broker at Newedge in Paris, was arrested and questioned for 48 hours before being released without charge on Saturday. Investigating magistrates are treating Mr Bakir as a witness in the affair rather than a suspect.